Meeting Glennon

So I met Glennon from Momastery last week with my sister. We went to Boston to hear her speak. She was fabulous – animated, funny, passionate, honest.

She said her sister is the boss of her. Me too.

She said people were confused by the name of her blog. Me too.

She said when she boldy started telling the truth about her life (anxiety, pain, addiction), people said me too. Me too (with different specifics).

Glennon talked about the construction concept of sistering, bringing more joists together to support a structure. A tip of the hat from a predominantly male industry that women are doing life right when we come together.

Because Glennon gets so many messages from women telling their stories, the moderator asked her what she wanted to tell us about each other. She told us that women need to have someone to tell the real truth to. We’re craving community but also hiding away with our this is too awful for the world to see.

And she talked about being present. Showing up for your life. It’s a concept I’ve thought a lot about recently. What do you do when showing up looks different for all of the important people in your life?

She spoke about women because we are her primary audience, but her message is really for anyone. Men and women are different, I get that. I also believe that men are being fed a lie, and sometimes a lame *ss excuse, that they aren’t capable of relationships and can’t communicate. Glennon indicated that from connecting with other women (and her own hiding from life) she knows darn well that women are afraid to be vulnerable, often seek the surface conversation, and aren’t always quite sure how to navigate meaningful relationships. But we’re told by our society that this is what we do well, so we work hard, take the risk, and figure it out.

What if we changed the conversation, raised the expectations for men as well? I would LOVE for her to have a men only night and see what happens when she tells them to run toward their pain, shame, envy, and inadequacy and all the amazing things that are possible there. Would they sit there for two hours like we did, a little bit afraid, but also excited, or would they run for the door?

I did go a little fan girl crazy meeting Glennon. Her boldness and writing are encouraging. But at the end of the day, it’s her message that matters most, the idea that we’re not alone in our pain and that we’re better together!

This is the little recap from my sister Becca:

I saw Glennon twice yesterday, like a groupie. No shocker, Glennon said lots of really important things. She did it with humor and kept it simple yet profound. Two of my favs: “grief is proof that you loved deeply” and “I want you in the love current with me.” Latter one may be my new tattoo.

My first favorite moment was when Taylor Swift came on the radio, Heather and I started shaking it off and then, wouldn’t you know so did Glennon and Amanda (Sister). They looked at us and said, “Oh, these are our people.” Couldn’t agree more sisters.

My second favorite moment was when Glennon recognized Heather from her famous blog post. The hug pic below. She ended with, “Kiss Aidan for me.”

My third favorite moment was when we were ‪#‎sistering‬. The picture below when Glennon and Heather are pointing at me and Amanda. Glennon told me AND I QUOTE….”Just keep being the boss of her.” I love that job!

Cheers to love and laughter and sistering!

And Glennon’s Instagram comment with this picture:

momasteryI generally feel pretty ambivalent about meeting you guys on the road. I just feel like we should be dignified and elegant about things.

And a little photo recap:

Both of us pointing to and acknowledging that our sisters are the boss of us

The first thing my sister said was, “You know we need a picture with her sister, right?”